The 2011 elections were a crucial landmark in the development of the Federal National Council (FNC), as it achieved the UAE’s most substantial democratic mandate to date because the largest electoral college in the history of the country was able to vote for half the members.
The new FNC took office on November 14, charged with the task of expanding its role in government. President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan spelt out the expectations of the country’s leadership when he said empowerment (of both the FNC and Emiratis) is the heart of what the federation was all about. He said that the spirit of the Union needs deepening political participation to fulfil the aspirations of the citizens in a country they contribute to building, safeguard its achievements and take pride in where they live.
The details are not yet clear about how the FNC will find its expanded role, but comments from both the leadership of the UAE and the FNC members show that there is active consideration on how to move forward. For example, the next FNC elections (due in five years) are expected to have universal franchise, which will include all adult Emiratis, although to date there has been no commitment to a firm date by which this aim can be delivered.
Expanding role
The FNC at present has two responsibilities. It comments on draft laws, but the FNC is still only an advisory body, and its comments are not treated as amendments that have to be incorporated into the laws before the draft law moves back to the Cabinet and finally to the President for signature. But the FNC has built itself a more active role in using its authority to ask ministers to appear before it,
where FNC members often give the ministers very tough questioning. Over time, it has also become expected by both ministers and the FNC that the ministers have to attend the FNC in person, and when ministers have tried to offer written answers they have been asked to come themselves.
Any expansion of the FNC’s role is likely to focus on new powers to amend draft laws, with more authority to getting the amendments made part of the law. It has been stated several times by senior ministers that the FNC is unlikely to get any authority to originate legislation.
Strong precedent
But as the FNC searches for its more empowered role, it can find a precedent for taking strong action in its own history. In the 1970s, the first decade of the UAE, the FNC took a strong line in reinforcing the powers of the central federal government. After the founding of the state in 1971, the government of the new federation had to work hard to build the authority of the federal ministries, which took power away from the governments of the seven emirates. This process led to all sorts of natural tensions, which built up into a serious clash over where more authority should lie: either centralised with the federal government, or more devolved with the seven emirates.
Thanks to these tensions, the Supreme Council failed to meet formally from 1976 until the start of 1979 when the FNC held an unprecedented joint session with the Cabinet and sent a memorandum to the Supreme Council asking them to meet and to enforce a strongly centralised form of government. The Supreme Council eventually did meet during 1979, although it finally adopted a more developed structure than the FNC had sought.
The challenges that the UAE will face in the next decade are very different from those that the founding fathers had to deal with, but the modern FNC will share the duty that its predecessors have handled through the years, of building a more transparent and effective UAE focused on supporting the fortunes of its people.
